‘Retirement Security in an Aging Population’, Interview With James Poterba

(May 2014) James Poterba discussed population aging, retirement savings vehicles, and the challenges of helping individuals effectively prepare for retirement with Marlene Lee, PRB program director for Academic Research and Relations. Poterba is Mitsui Professor of Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and president of the National Bureau of Economic Research. He is a trustee of the College Retirement Equity Fund (CREF) and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. His research focuses on how taxation affects the economic decisions of households and firms. Poterba’s recent work has examined elderly spending in retirement, focusing on the use of annunities and tax-deferred retirement saving such as 401(k).